title: Prevalence and correlations of early microvascular complications in young type I diabetic patients: role of puberty.
abstract: The prevalence and correlates of the early signs of renal, retinal and neurological microvascular complications were evaluated in 317 young patients with type I diabetes mellitus. Microalbuminuria was detected in 11% of patients and appeared to be strongly and positively related to HbA1c (p < 0.01) and less significantly to duration of diabetes (p < 0.02). Retinopathy was detected in 22.7% of patients and it was associated with duration of diabetes (p < 0.001). Peripheral neuropathy was detected in 18.5% of patients and there was a strong association with HbA1c (p < 0.01) and a weaker one with duration of diabetes (p < 0.05). Microalbuminuria was not detected in prepubertal patients while a similar frequency of retinopathy and neuropathy was observed in prepubertal and postpubertal patients. These results suggest that: 1) In short-term type I diabetic patients neuropathy is the most frequent microvascular complication, but after 10 years of diabetes, retinopathy exceeds the other complications; 2) Short-term metabolic control may influence the frequency of neuropathy and microalbuminuria but not retinopathy; 3) Puberty is involved in the appearance of microalbuminuria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Scientific Institute San Raffaele University of Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bognetti
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Calori
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Meschi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Macellaro
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bonfanti
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chiumello
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000419:Albuminuria / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000150:complications*; D003928:Diabetic Nephropathies / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003929:Diabetic Neuropathies / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D011627:Puberty / Q000097:blood / Q000502:physiology* / Q000652:urine
chemical_list: D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin